Finn

            An old man walked down the bricked street of an old Manhattan road in the year 1919. He was mumbling to himself, something that madmen often do, or rather just the lonely. His hair was long, his beard overgrown. His eyes were deep set in his head, dark, the sort of eyes that had seen many things- some of which should remain unspoken. He limped carrying only a small pack, reaching into it to pull out a bottle of bourbon every now and then, taking a swig and scrunching his face up. People walked by and watched, some stared, others avoiding his intimidating eyes. But one woman, younger then he, slowed her pace and walked for a moment by his side. He did not seem to notice, and limped onward in an unknown direction. The lady would look at him every now and then, but he would never lift those beady eyes. When the time was right, she spoke.

            “Sir, I give my greatest apologies for bothering you on this day, for I am sure that you have previous affairs and I do not wish to…” she was cut off.

            “N-no p-p-previous affairs.” The old man mumbled, shuffling onward. His brow was bent in an inquisitive way, as if he was thinking deeply about the few words that had been said.

            “I see you walking by often, as I come into the city every day to collect bread for my daughter, who is at home, sick and lame.”

            The old man kept walking without turning his eyes and continued to mumble under his breath.

            “I once knew someone like you, too long ago to count on my hands…”

            He nodded, yet the lady was still unclear if he was listening.

            “… and, and well, I want to know your story.”

            The man stopped. “My story?” He asked, surprising the lady with his firm voice, his stammer now gone. She nodded.

            “Mmm.” He responded, nodding his head in the direction of a tavern on their left, to which the two of them began to walk. Upon entering the two heavy wooden doors, they were seated almost immediately, though there was a long line forming out the door filled with young gentlemen and rowdy boys, young women dressed in floor length rags and children bumping into the legs of those who stood near them.

            “Finn.” Nodded the waiter. “And who is your lovely lady?” He poured two glasses of water from a metal jar.

            “Eva.” The lady answered. The waiter smiled and after a moment walked away.

            “So, Finn?” Eva asked, Finn nodded.

            Like the lonely tend to do, Finn dove into his tale, starting from the beginning.

            “I was born in 1847 to Florence and Henrietta Alden, and raised just outside this same city we’re in right now. My parents were spoiled with old money, which passed to me once they died. I had no brothers or sisters, nor grandparents, aunts, or uncles. It was only my father, my mother, and I. Following their death, which unfortunately occurred when I was only nine, I was alone in the world.”

            Eva nodded and took a drink of her water.

            “I was put in an orphanage and lived there until the age of eighteen. I never made good company there, for the boys and girls were always much younger then I. I often sat and wrote or read, which is how I came to learn everything that I know.             My story starts in June of 1866, just after my nineteenth birthday. I had only just gotten out of that god-forsaken orphanage a year prior. Fortunately for myself, I had my parents’ wealth, which I used heartily to buy my own place on the water. I spent my days fishing, which was more for my own enjoyment.”

            Eva was staring intently into the old mans face, pondering at what point his tale would become one of purpose.

            “I killed a man.”

Eva spit out her water, and immediately following, politely excused herself.

“He was twenty five, and he lived next door. His name was C.H Ansley. He was skinny, tall, and had no hair. He often wore a black spectacle and a suit; he worked in the city. Before you judge me maam, understand me one thing. He was a bad man. Not your ordinary bad man either, but rather, and extraordinary bad man.”

Eva stared with blank eyes but urged him to go on.

“As I have previously mentioned, I was alone in the world. I sat around my home all day and all night, for I did not even have a purpose for working- I had all the money as is possible to spend even in as many as seven lifetimes.” He nodded as if seeking Eva’s approval. She approved by nodding her head in response and he continued.

 “And so at my usual dinner time, I would cook up the fish I had caught as I read the Timely News. And one night specifically, in October, I read something that caught my eye. An undercover man who was yet to be named had been running around doing unspeakable things- not even the papers would say.”

Eva held her hand up, “This… this man? In the papers? Was your neighbor I would assume?”

Finn laughed. “One would certainly think so.” Eva tilted her head to the side, but Finn continued.

“I had been watching my neighbor for quite some time, and after I read this paper I became suspicious. He too lived alone, but not only this. For the past few months I would regularly hear noises coming from his house. Often, they were shrieks, like that of a small lap dog which a misses would own. For the longest while, that is what I understood them to be. After I read the paper I got a feeling in the depths of my stomach that felt like something was banging to get out. It was the type of feeling that one could most certainly not ignore.”

Eva began fanning herself with her hanker-chief. Finn continued with a sly look in his eye.

“After I couldn’t stand the knawing feeling for another moment, I devised a plan. I was going to take a walk inside of my neighbors house while he was at work on October the twenty third, a date I chose at random. I told no one, for there was no one to tell. And so the day began to approach, and soon it was there. I loaded two pistols and put them in my coat pocket where they joined my pocket knife. I then walked outside as if I were going to the market. Rather, however, I smashed open a window in the back which led to a basement. I crouched down so both my hands and feet were touching the cold gravel and I peered inside. It was as I had expected, a simple basement similar to my own. I lowered myself in, careful not to make a noise- for though I had observed no one else enter the house, I could not be certain. Could you imagine the quickening beat of my heart?”

Eva shook her head, her mouth open as she listened intently.

“The fears began to crawl up my bones like spiders, their tiny legs scurrying faster and faster. And small goose bumps formed on my skin the sizes of pins. Soon though, I felt my feet touch the cold floor and I was inside. Do not be fooled, however, for my heart was still racing. I looked around the room and saw nothing out of the ordinary, and so I began up the stairs. I felt the warmth stream in around me as I opened the door to the rest of the house. I wandered into the kitchen first and then around to the sitting room until a noise startled me. It was the same sort of noise I had heard so many times before coming from this house, but this time it was shriller and louder in every way. It was coming from the basement. At first, I was confused, for I had just come up from the basement and seen nothing. At any rate, I decided to go back down there.”

Eva was playing with her fingers. Finn’s voice had turned into a low whisper.

“So I stumbled back down those stairs, heard it again and nearly jumped. I had to grab onto the railing to keep myself from tripping! Once down again, I stood still and listened for the noise. It took a moment or so, but faithfully it came. I followed its resonance and it led me to a small room behind the staircase which had just brought me down. The door was shut and I put my ear up to it, again to assure myself of the screech I had heard. The noise was made again. ‘Hu-hullo?’ I called through the door, scaring myself at the sound of my own voice. My hand subconsciously slipped to my pocket and wrapped itself around the knife which was in there. ‘H-h-hullo?’ I called out again. Silence. I cracked open the door and peered inside. It was dark and I could see nothing except the triangle of light streaming in from the door. I pushed the door carefully more open until the whole room was lit and saw much to my amazement, a sight that has left an imprint on my memory even after all these years.”

“W-what w-was it?” Eva struggled to get the words out of her mouth.

“A dog. The most tattered dog I had ever seen in my whole life. In worse shape then any of those skinny dogs you see roaming the streets. I could have counted every bone in its body if I had wished. Its fur had patches missing, from where it probably began eating itself. It resembled something that had come alive again from the dead. It was cowered over in the corner and would not come near me. Even when I approached it, he still sat cowering with no mechanism of self defense left in him. I slowly stuck my hand out, and the creature surprised me by taking off. By taking off I mean, limping off. It was quite obvious that one of his hind legs was broken, for the bone was nearly sticking out the side and there was blood everywhere. ‘Who did this to you?’ I asked, half expecting him to answer. He still kept limping, so I followed him.”

Eva’s face had scrunched up now and she wondered to herself why she had asked to hear this story. Never-the-less, she sat, anticipating the ending.

“He led me, very slowly and with many whimpers I might add, to another room, but this room was hidden in the wall. It had a door that was no more then three feet high. One would be required to crawl to get in to the tiny space. The dog began scratching at the door with all of his might, falling down dead shortly after. I felt bad for the poor fellow. I slowly turned the lock to the small door and opened it up. This room too was dark, and it smelled. From the moment I cracked it open, a repugnant smell filled the whole room. So vile that I wondered what could be causing it. As the light streamed in I saw another sight, which to this day has been ingrained in my memory as well. I saw in front of me, dozens of children of all ages. All naked and starved- almost as skinny as the dog. Upon seeing me, they cowered back, none of them making a noise.”

“What did you do then?!” Eva asked.

“I fainted. When I recovered I saw all of the children still in the room which I had just opened. It shocked me that they had not even an ounce of hope of escaping. ‘Hullo.’ I spoke to them. They all stared, some flinching. ‘Who has done this to you?’ I asked, not expecting them to answer. They didn’t. ‘I am here to help you.’ One little boy, no more then seven years opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. I gave him a second and he regained his courage. ‘You w-won’t h-hurt us?’ He asked. ‘No.’ I responded. That was when I heard the shaking of a lock upstairs. All of the kids whispered. ‘Leave us. Leave us. Don’t make him angry. Don’t make the master angry.’ I told the children that I would save them, then slipped upstairs, carefully. The lock was still being toyed with and so I placed myself just behind the door. As I had expected, Mr. Ansley walked in. That was when I shot him. Once in the leg, and twice in both shoulders. He fell to the ground and I began questioning him. His blue suit started filling with blood and he lay trembling. He would not speak and so leaving him as he was, I phoned the officers. They came in a matter of minutes, for I linked this man with the man in the papers. “

Eva was awestruck, you could see it in her eyes. “And how did it end?” She asked. “Was he really the man in the papers? And what was he doing with all of those children?” Eva questioned, holding her shaking hands together.

“Yes. He really was that man from the papers.” Finn answered. “The officers showed up and took him downtown where strangely enough, he admitted to everything. I was asked to go with them and so I rode in the front seat while he lay in the back. He never spoke a word- just kept his eyes dead forward. I remember wondering what he was thinking about.

The children too were taken care of. They were questioned as well but none of them really spoke much for they were terribly frightened.  We found out from Mr. Ansley that he had a plot to slowly, one-by-one, kidnap every child in the city until all of them were gone and no one knew what had happened to them. There was nothing in it for him except the accomplishment of a feat which was seemly impossible, something which meant a great amount to him. He was a sick man.

I was sent out of the room when the questioning about the treatment of the children was in session, but I heard a women scream then watched as she came out of the room with a hankercheif pressed against her nose. When I questioned her, she only shook her head and said, ‘The world is a cruel place.’”

“The world most certainly is a cruel place.” Eva nodded her head.

“A week later, Mr. Ansely was sentenced to death. He was to be hanged, and I was to be the one to do it. In those last few second just before I pulled the rope, I looked and caught his eye. He was still making the same expression he had after I shot him. Cold and dead. I pulled the rope, and that was it.”

Eva nodded her head in approval.

“So here my story ends. I was an average man only doing what I felt was my duty. I did not deserve the fame, and I did not deserve the money. After this, I went on living my ordinary life. I was considered a hero by the town, and to this day my name lives on.”

“I have never heard your name?” Eva inquired.

“I go by Finn now, but the name I went by in that time was Evett D. Alden.” Finn answered.

“Why, I remember you. I suppose I never looked into what it was that you actually did. But now, I understand.” Eva looked up as she spoke, but Finn had disappeared.

“Forever in infamy, that man. And all due to our wonderful Evett Alden.” She mumbled to herself.